3D

3D printing isn’t the future—it’s now. In the last year and a half, four new 3D printing services have opened in the Miami Valley, and the most recent additions are each trying out something new.

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A “maker space” with beer

The Proto BuildBar on First Street in downtown Dayton is perhaps overly hipster: the employees are wearing gas station attendant shirts and retro eyeglasses, and the music is 90’s indie rock. But Proto BuildBar is more than a hip hangout. If you’re a techie, it could be a dream come true. They have a dozen 3D printers and rows of workbenches with soldering guns and magnifying glasses.

“We are the world’s first build bar,” says General Manager Alex Todd. “We are a small scale coffee shop and bar housed together with a 3D print and maker space. It’s kind of a cool concept. You can come in and rent time on 3D printers.”

GetPrinting3D, a retail store for three-dimensional printers, opened for business on the north side of Dayton Thursday. It’s one of just a handful in the country, but the potential uses of 3D printers are growing fast.

In the center of a cube-shaped 3D printer about the size of a hotel mini-fridge, a little mechanical arm squirts out thin jets of white liquid plastic, slowly building a chess piece.

Meanwhile, Brent Cox, of GetPrinting3D, holds up the future in his hands.